Tag: Talented

Bangalore, India – Independent creative agency Talented brought on ad leaders to join the team, ex SVP at Dentsu Webchutney, Priyanka Borah and ex managing partner at Dentsu Webchutney, Prashant Gopalakrishnan as Founding Partners to lead its business strategy.

In a statement, Prashant Gopalakrishnan, said, “We bought into Gautam & PG’s vision of building an agency centred around talent the moment we heard about it. My experience and my gut tells me that’s what clients expect from their creative agencies too: access to the best talent in the market.“

According to Gopalakrishnan, over the last few years, conversations in the industry have been circling around the looming irrelevance of agencies in the new marketing landscape. “All things considered, the agency experience itself is long overdue for a serious reimagination like Gautam often says. Talented is in many ways an experiment to bring back the love for the agency business, by trying to go about everything we do in a fresh way,” added Gopalakrishnan. 

Gopalakrishnan joined Webchutney in 2015 after stints at Leo Burnett, Contract & Capital. He was named Dentsu Webchutney’s first ever Managing Partner in 2020 under then Webchutney CEO & now Talented co-founder Gautam Reghunath. “Together at Webchutney, we achieved a lot of things we never even dreamed of accomplishing. Personally, I’ve been wanting a new challenge. That, plus the chance to build something again with people we love makes this opportunity even more exciting,” Gopalakrishnan added. 

About her new role, Priyanka Borah, says “Working with Gautam & PG at Webchutney was a rewarding experience. And joining them now as founding partner is as great a privilege, as it is a challenge. Prashant and I are here to ensure that the business itself becomes as successful as it can be. That means structuring ourselves internally to consistently deliver great work for clients. Simultaneously, we’ve got very clear ideas & share the same dream about the kind of company that we want to build together: one that stands for creativity, transparency and respect for talent. Stay true to those principles and I know the clients will follow.”

Borah joined Dentsu Webchutney in 2017 and was last leading the agency’s business team as Senior Vice President. During her five years there, she helped drive work for clients including Google, Uber, Airtel, ITC, YouTube amongst others. 

“In the agency business today, there are systemic barriers to a sustainable work experience for employees that need to be eradicated, so that’s an additional area of focus. We want to be an ambitious, world-class, creative company with a big heart. We want every member to be able to enjoy stimulating challenges rather than spend their times chasing deadlines and following up – the biggest bane of our younger colleagues joining advertising. There is no doubt this search for efficiency will have a positive rub-off on work and client relationships as well,” added Borah.

India – For women, it is a fact that there are structural and systemic barriers that get in the way of reaching senior leadership roles, especially for mothers, who have been on a maternity break. In this year’s celebration of Mothers’ Day, Indian jewelry brand Tanishq has launched a new campaign that aims to inspire moms to return to work.

The campaign was conceptualised by the new indie agency Talented, which was founded by former Webchutney CEO and CCO duo, Gautam Reghunath and PG Aditiya, and created in partnership with advertising film production Superfly Films. 

Titled ‘The Interview’, the film flips the narrative around the maternity penalty, offering a whole new perspective on what the maternity break actually means – an experience that can present a real competitive advantage at work, a bootcamp in leadership.

Ranjani Krishnaswamy, Tanishq’s general manager of marketing, shared that the woman of today is seeking to express herself with honesty and authenticity to confidently celebrate her realities, and she’s thriving in her vulnerability while rising in her power to change her world. 

“The brand believes these powerful stories build positive momentum in cultivating a world of equality and adding to her self growth. This film is an ode to women who challenge set narratives and inspire many others to follow the change,” said Krishnaswamy.

Meanwhile, Binaifer Dulani, Talented’s founding member and creative, noted that this is a long-overdue conversation in India, and Mother’s Day felt like a moment as good as any to further this narrative. 

“Studies reveal that it will take at least 136 years to close the global gender pay gap, and one of the biggest factors for this is the lack of representation of women in senior leadership. We need more workplaces to see beyond the dominant culture, value the incredible leadership transformation mothers undergo, and create equity for women so that they can make their comeback,” said Dulani.

Kopal Naithani, Superfly Films’ founder and director, said that a maternity break is not easy, it tests mothers at every level, and has a transformative effect, and there’s so much fear about what life will be like after, for working women. 

“I hope our character, Radhika inspires more mothers to add ‘Life Bootcamp’ to their own resumes and negotiate for better, more powerful roles when they make their comeback to work. At Superfly Films, furthering the arc on progressive womanhood is core to our mission, and we’re honoured to partner with Talented and Tanishq to put this discourse out there and inspire action,” added Naithani.

India – Former Webchutney c-suite leaders – ex-CEO and ex-CCO Gautam Reghunath & PG Aditiya – has launched the new creative agency Talented. 

Reghunath & Aditiya were both homegrown leaders at dentsu webchutney, and together they’ve spent a combined 20 years at the agency. In their official launch release, the duo promises to build a creative agency that returns the advertising industry’s focus back to its talent. 

The duo said that they have radical ideas they believe can fundamentally alter the agency business – including employee ownership and stronger skin in the game relationships with clients. 

“We want to build a workplace where what every member of the leadership & its youngest colleagues think and say about the company, are the exact same. Where our actions and policies back up our words and press releases,” the duo said.

The duo emphasised, “When a client chooses us, we want them to know that we’re committed to putting the sharpest, most motivated talent in front of them. How we operate internally is going to play a huge role in making that happen. And at the end of all of this, we just want to do great advertising.”